E-Forums: Examples
The Darebin eForum http://eforum.darebin.vic.gov.au/ Software used Groupserver (open source) Purpose of forum General citizen engagement, discussion of specific policy issues Resources required Site support: Volunteer 2 hours per week plus time to sort out bugs Moderation: (rotates amongst policy areas of Council as per topic): 2 hours per week Oversight of e-Forum: 2 hours per week Additional costs of site: Nil (hosted on Darebin server) Moderated (this means that comments are checked before being published on the e-Forum) Yes Number of members 103 as of 24 January 2007 Can members of the public start discussion threads No Brisbane City Council: Your Say Online http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:BASE::pc=PC_76 Software used Developed in-house Purpose of forum To provide a space where informed feedback and comment can be obtained from the community to support policy development or project planning. All discussions are supported with additional information on the corporate website. A secondary role of the forum is for residents to see what others are saying and to potentially be more considerate of other perspective's. The discussion forums have many more readers than they do contributors and this is ok. Associated quick polls and surveys not only collect valuable feedback it is anticipated they help participants to make the leap from reading to contributing in forums. Resources required Site support: Set up for a topic is about 1 hr per topic Moderation: Around 1/2 hr a day when active otherwise 5 min to review latest posts Oversight of e-Forum: 1 hr a week Additional costs of site: Nil (hosted on Council server) Moderated (this means that comments are checked before being published on the e-Forum) No - comments go live automatically. In past two years have only had a handful of incidences that have required moderation. Number of members Open to public and anyone can contribute. Do directly promote new topics to Your City, Your Say community reference groups members who have supplied us with their emails (6,800). Previous website users research identified that a username/password process that was in place was a barrier to contribution. Can members of the public start discussion threads? No - A suggest a topic link was in place but vast majority of contacts were service requests, now use YCYS member research to identify areas of interest. Surf Coast Shire Council http://www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au Software used Provided by a contractor written in Visual Basic Purpose of forum General citizen engagement Discussion of specific policy issues Resources required Workload is estimated to be the same as Darebin. Moderated (this means that comments are checked before being published on the e-Forum) Yes Number of members The eForum should be active March 2007 Can members of the public start discussion threads? No Site traffic (average volume) The eForum should be active March 2007 Other councils in Victoria which are commencing online forums include Manningham and Kingston City Council. International examples *Brazil's city council of Porto Alegre has used email and the web to facilitate a degree of direct democracy by enabling citizens to discuss and vote on issues. *Minnesota E-Democracy also hosts online public spaces for citizen interaction on public issues to increase participation in elections and public discourse in Minnesota through the use of information networks (http://www.e-democracy.org/). *Citizens of Estonia use an online consultation process to comment on draft laws and suggest new ones (http://tom.riik.ee). *http://www.e-democracy.gov.uk/casestudies.htm o http://www.e-democracy.gov.uk/toolkit/default.htm E-Democracy Toolkit developed by the International Centre for Local e-Democracy Australian Government Citizen E-Engagement Initiatives Queensland Government’s e-Democracy Unit :http://www.communities.qld.gov.au/community/edemocracy.html WA Office of e-Government :http://www.egov.dpc.wa.gov.au/index.cfm?event=policiesEengagement ConsultWA :http://www.citizenscape.wa.gov.au/index.cfm?event=consultWaView :provides a list of consultations being conducted by Western Australian state government departments and agencies Citizenscape :http://www.citizenscape.wa.gov.au/ :an information rich site of resources for those interested in active citizenship and community consultation and participation. Victorian Parliamentary Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee’s Inquiry into Electronic Democracy (Parliament of Victoria, 2004). :http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/SARC/E-Democracy/Final_Report/ToC.htm